Diplomatic Cross

Washington:Peace talks to end the conflict in Yemen will take place in Sweden in the next few weeks, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Wednesday, as experts cautioned that there's no guarantee Sa udi Arabia will take the steps needed for that to happen. The conflict of nearly four years between a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels  has killed around 57,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a crisis mapping project. The UN has put the death toll at 10,000, but that estimate has not been updated for years, during which the country has edged to the brink of starvation, with 14 million lives at risk in what the UN describes as possibly the worst famine in 100 years.

President Ashraf Ghani  Image: DOD/US Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani declared a provisional three-month ceasefire with the Taliban in a televised broadcast. Kabul-Anticipation had been mounting ahead of Ghani’s speech following mixed signals from the presidential palace over whether the government would offer a fresh truce – following a brief ceasefire in June. Pakistan Fully support, recent peace initiatives in Afghanistan “The conditional ceasefire will start tomorrow and it will continue as long as the Taliban preserves and respects it,” Ghani said on Sunday, August 19, Reuters reported. Ghani said the ceasefire, which begins on the Eid al-Adha holiday, would continue until the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday which Afghanistan celebrates on November 21, AFP reported. Ghani said his administration removed “all obstacles” to peace with the announcement following consultations with religious scholars, political parties and...

  U.S. President Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with Kim Jong Un. (Reuter ) The North’s KCNA news agency separately released the joint statement North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in presented on Friday after the first summit in more than a decade between the two Koreas. Kim and Moon had pledged to work for “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula and agreed on a common goal of a “nuclear-free” peninsula. “At the talks both sides had a candid and open-hearted exchange of views on the matters of mutual concern including the issues of improving the north-south relations, ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearization of the peninsula,” KCNA said, reporting that the night wrapped up with a dinner with an “amicable atmosphere overflowing with feelings of blood relatives.” A day after the meeting between Kim and Moon produced dramatic imag...